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April 9, 2013

Language Freak Summer Challenge: Announcement and Sign-ups!

Do you love learning foreign languages?
Have you ever suspected that something is lost in translation when reading a book?
Do you feel ashamed of not practicing some foreign language enough?
Are you an unbearable snob who tells everybody that they haven't read a book if they have read it in translation?

If your answer is yes to any of these questions, this challenge is just for you! As a seasoned linguist myself, I can answer in the positive to all of them, so I'll be the one to organize a challenge for all of you foreign language lovers!

The idea is simple: read books in a foreign language, enjoy it and be proud of yourself! I will collect whatever you want to post about your experiences from now till the end of August and hopefully we will all have some progress in languages by the beginning of September!

There are levels, of course:

Beginner: read 1 book in a foreign languageIntermediate: read 2 books in a foreign languageAdvanced: read 3+ books in a foreign language

The books can be in one language or in several different languages. You choose what you want to practice! But for really crazy linguists I have a special offer, which is called accordingly:

Crazy Linguist: read at least 1 book in EACH foreign language you know

Bonus level is for films:

Subs Fan: watch any number of films in a foreign language (Why is it called so? Because subs are allowed, of course!)

The rules are easy:

Any types and formats of books are allowed.

Really, I mean it! If you are just a beginner then a short story, a fairy tale or an adapted book counts as a book! The point is to practice.

If you are bilingual or nearly so, then this language doesn't count. For example, although English is not my mother-tongue, 80% of my reading is in English, so I will not count it. But you are to decide if some language is challenging for you or not :)

To sign up please link up an introduction post to the linky below. You may tell us:

What languages do you know? Note: even if you are a beginner, it totally counts! And don't forget to mention what your mother-tongue is!

What is your history with these languages?

Do you use them or are you out of practice?

Have you read some books in these languages? Did you like it?

What are your plans for the challenge?

Or whatever you want :)

I'll add all of the participants to my RSS feed, and if in some review you mention that you have read a book for this challenge, I'll link it up with other reviews at the end of each month (first one is planned for the end of May). I plan to sort them by language, but we'll see how it'll go :) You must not write a review, of course, you can just describe what your experience with the book/film was. Pointing out some linguistic peculiarities is encouraged! You may also try to write a paragraph or two in the target language, if you want some practice!

Don't forget to spread the word and grab my button!

P.S. It's the first challenge I host so please be patient :) If you see that something is wrong, please tell me and I'll fix it as soon as possible!

22 comments:

Oh, that is a seriously good idea. Especially the part about doing it over the summer, when I will have way more time than I do right now. I have been getting really embarrassed about the rusty state of my Danish lately--it's 20 years since I really spoke it regularly and I know I need to practice. AND the dad of the little girl my daughter babysits is a language fiend and is teaching himself Danish, and he's all excited that I can speak it, so I need to keep my street cred up! I'll see what I can do about a signup post tomorrow.

Just wanted to know: India is a multi-lingual country with many languages being spoken and written in its different regions. People from one region do not know the language of another region. Now Urdu is not really a foreign language per se to us in India but it is slowly dying out. It is a language which I really want to be fluent in and think that this challenge would propel me towards it. Can I sign-up stating my aim to read book(s) in Urdu?

Hello ! thanks for this great idea.Well, It is my first time go with challenge at reading.I'm From Egypt so Arabic is my mother language and I'm learning English as second Language so I will enter this challenge by 2 books only.Intermediate level. I will begin with book for Sarah Dessen called Someone like you.

I have put your link at my post to let other people enter the challenge. Thanks for your reply. and it is nice to meet you. before that, I believed that no one learn more than 2 foreign languages and you encourage me to make it.

What a great idea! I wanted to practise my Russian anyway. This will definitely help me stay motivated. Thank you very much! :) I'll sneak around the other participants too, since I'm curious to know if anybody chose Russian or German (my mother tongue) too :)